SE ASIA - Day 12 - PHNOM PENH

November 28, 2017

SE ASIA - Day 12 - PHNOM PENH - Free and Easy

I thought it is better to show this as a first picture instead of what I had for breakfast.

It's one of those "I've been there" picture for being in Phnom Penh.

Cambodia was under the French rule from 1867. This is the monument to memorialize Cambodia's independence from the French in 1953. This is why there are a lot of road names and official signboards in French. In front of the monument is a huge park where most activities are held for national celebrations.

Then I went to the National Museum of Cambodia, where they display a lot of ancient historical sculptures uncovered from the ground. The building itself is quite nice.

Tickets are expensive, USD10. When I was there, I then realized that I forgot to bring money. Luckily found some Thai baht in my motorcycle jacket, paid them 400baht instead of USD10, the rate sucks, but desperate moments.

A summary of the Khmer Empire history.

More pictures of its garden than the artifacts displayed.

Then an map of the Ankorian period.

I realized that Singapore was not explicitly drawn on the picture. I guess this was how insignificant Singapore was during those era.

Then I went to a temple nearby called Wat Phnom.

Tickets for foreigners at USD1, locals are free.

This man was seen outside the temple with cages of sparrows. Pay USD1 and you get to free 2 birds.

It's quite sad to see all these birds squeezed into the small cage.
Of course, I shall not encourage his trade by paying him, without the demand, the supply should hopefully stop.

Oh yes, time to catch up on some interesting street food I had last night.
So I walked along the busy street during dinner time.
The sound of lion dance caught my attention. Cambodia have a great number of residents with Chinese descent. They have brought along some of the Chinese food and culture. This can be witnessed by the number of Chinese signboard you can spot all over the place.